Sharapova Pink
by XxCrimsonNovaxX
Summary: Highschool Fic! Sas/Sak Guys never seem to understand that just because you have pink hair and wear cute tennis outfits, it doesn't mean you can't dominate on the court. Sakura can vouch it's not cake to deem yourself worthy to stoic team captains.
1. Chapter 1

**PLEASE REVIEW IF YOU WANT ME TO CONTINUE. THERE IS NO SENSE IN WRITING A STORY THAT NOONE LIKES.**

**I used to play college tennis before I got into pre-med classes. Sooo, the other day I went to see my team play and I suddenly got this idea of an amazing tennis player Sakura and a stoic captain who is none other than Sasuke. If you guys like this, it's going to be A LOT of fun. **

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'_I'm not obsessed, it's just called being prepared.'_

Sakura assured herself that no matter what she was doing at the moment, which was in fact trespassing school grounds, that she wasn't being some weird crazy 'stalker-esq' type of person. She just merely wanted to check out the landscape, scenery..you know, important tennis stuff!

That wasn't so wrong, right?

_Right_…

She giggled to herself out loud. She wondered what deranged person _wouldn't_ think it weird to break into their new school's tennis courts at eight in the evening just to 'scope it out.'

Don't answer that, she was already here.

Sakura Haruno quickly took her Sharapova Pink Prince bag off her shoulders and placed it, gently mind you, on the ground. In Sakura's mindset, that bag, and the four perfectly identical _Prince_ crimson racquets that it held, were no less than royalty.

This was with good reason too.

Why?

Well, two of those racquets had led her to back to back Singles State Championships, twice. Did she tell you that she won? Well, she did. Actually the correct term for what she accomplished happens to be '_Pwned'_.

Ehh, but who's picky about that kinda stuff. Not her of course.

Now in her junior year, she wondered what her team would be doing back home this season. Could they handle the heat without her? Of course, she had faith. The only thing that she could relax about at the moment was knowing, for a fact, that she would never have to face them.

Her real team. She scowled inwardly.

Only her dumb brother would get banned from a state. A WHOLE STATE!

Whadda dumbass.

If only he hadn't got into a fight with the principal's son, who used to be a senator with all his glory and crap, and hospitalized the kid…well, then she wouldn't be in this predicament.

Which predicament?

The one where she is standing by herself on dark tennis courts at night without a clue if this was a good or bad part of town.

Oh the possibilities that could happen at this point.

If she was optimistic, she would be really happy that she could start all over on the other side of the country happily with her dad and her brother. She could make a brand new identity for herself.

If she was Sakura, then she would know that having to earn respect on a new tennis team with pink hair is harder said than done. For some reason, it's a common rule for people to associate girls with the name Sakura that possessed pink hair to gummy bears and tea parties. Where they get this stuff, she'll never know.

She decided that as soon as she got home, she was smacking her brother, Kenji, in the balls…again.

She looked at the six immaculate courts that she was sitting in the dead center of. The nets, she knew, would be the exact height and tension were she to check right that instant. No water bottles, grip wrappers, or empty tennis ball cans littered the premises. It looked like all eight of the courts had been freshly resurfaced. They even had wind guards up around the whole perimeter of the looming fifteen foot fences.

This place really knew how to intimidate without even setting foot on the court.

Speaking of courts, they themselves were spotless.

Compared to hers back home, which they had to share with the public park, there were absolutely no scuff marks. Shaking her head to herself, she immediately knew that there were no scuff marks because the team that played here would have the top of the line shoes for tennis courts only. Everyone knew that 'tennis' shoes these days had tire rubber in the sole to prevent your shoes from wearing down.

Was her sport the bomb or what?

Sakura looked around the courts, which were surrounded by trees. If she turned to lights on to serve, would anyone see her? She didn't think so, it took her a while to trek the trail after she parked her car and snuck into this little piece of heaven.

She decided to chance it. As she stood up and turned on the lights, she concluded that she was probably the first person to ever step foot on these courts that wasn't part of the school team. She sighed and bent down to unpack her racquet and balls while the lights gently hummed, warming up. Grabbing three balls from her bag, she cursed herself for not thinking things like this through. Instead of wearing her actual tennis outfits, _Prince_ of course, she was wearing black Sophie shorts and a T-shirt.

She begrudgingly shoved two balls up her shorts while holding the other, and walked to the base line.

Slowly, she bounced the ball with her racquet. After the third bounce, just like she did every time, she lofted the ball up, brought the racquet behind her head, and then followed through in one graceful, fluid motion. Not too hard and not too soft, the ball made a satisfactory 'twok' as it landed with just an ounce of spin. She was just warming up after all. Never, EVER, warm up with your 'first serve' serve on your first try.

Hello! Do you want an injury?

After serving the remaining two balls, she walked to the other side of the ungodly perfect court and served them back.

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Sakura was just getting warmed up to the place, it was probably her 15th trip around the court serving, when she heard the voices.

'_Boys_.'

And they were getting louder. She looked at her escape routes, the gates into the court. There were two, one on each side. Though only one exit held the path back to the parking lots, which also held the voices, she nearly thought about running to the other exit that was for balls that flew over the fence and into the woods when she realized it was futile. They had seen her car more than likely, and the dumb lights. Sakura sighed and realized the only thing she could do was act like the delinquent she was and confront them.

She looked down at her watch; it was 8:47.

She scrunched her forehead. Why would anyone be out here at night anyway? The little devil on her shoulder immediately shoved a finger in her mind's eye and claimed she could ask the exact same thing to her.

_Oh_.

The voices were becoming distinct now.

"Oi, who left the lights on? Captain is gonna be pissed as hell for it."

"Captain won't know if someone hurries up and plants his ass on the court. He would think that you turned them on. I wonder, do you ever turn on that thing in your cranium and just think?"

"Neji, you're a jackass."

"And you're an idiot."

That was the exact same moment that they stepped on the court, side by side, one gaping at me while the other glared.

_Fudge. _

She just stared at them.

The blond boy was the first to find his tongue.

"Not that I'm complaining or anything, but who the hell are you and what are you doing on Konoha courts?"

Ahh, future teammates. Deciding to let them think she was a stranger for now, she kept her answer short and sweet.

And obvious.

"Serving."

The boy with long hair, that was _still_ glaring at her ridiculously monster-y like, stepped forward.

"I regret to inform you that unless you are part of our team, and I can prove that you are indeed not, then you are not permitted to be here."

"I figured as much," she sighed as she replied.

She had no intention of telling them that tomorrow she would be out here with them drilling and all that jazz. They'll find out soon enough, and it wasn't like they would believe that she was a transfer kid anyway.

She decided to go ahead and pack up.

The boy continued.

"Why were you here girl." It didn't sound anything like a question.

"I already told you, I was serving." She continued to set her strings straight on her racquet, refusing to look at the boy.

She heard the blond boy speak again, though this time it was to himself.

"Captain is gonna go thermal." Sakura smirked. Like she was going stick around for this 'Captain' to show up. Uh, no 'stick up their butt' captain down her throat tonight thank you very much and come again tomorrow! Sadly, she was mistaken.

A new voice came from the dark path that led from the court.

"Why is that dobe?"

_Double fudge_

Sakura looked up just in time to see probably one of the most gorgeous guys she had ever laid eyes on. But she also knew that when a guy was that good looking, they knew it, and that meant they all turned out to be jerkfaces. Seeing where she was going with this, she also verified that it was strictly forbidden to _ogle_ her future captain ever again.

Seriously.

The Glaring God, in which she had so graciously nicknamed the brunette, spoke up.

"We found someone on the courts."

Taaattttttlllee Taillll!

He was probably one of those kids that everyone hated in kindergarten.

All three guys snapped their heads toward her, and then the 'captain' started walking towards her direction.

Well, shit.

She was not even looking at him as she attempted to look like she was _still_ straightening her strings, even though every ounce of his body demanded authority. At five feet away, he stopped.

"Name."

She met his eyes in a silent challenge. Like hell he would intimidate her.

"Haruno Sakura." She kept her voice even and controlled.

"School."

Sakura smirked. "As of tomorrow, Konoha High School. Home of the Crimson _Flames_."

She saw surprise evident in the two boys behind him, but the captain himself looked unmoved.

"So what were you doing here." Again, no question. Just demands.

Sakura sighed, she was tired of answering this question. "Scoping out the courts." She placed her right hand on her hip and shifted all of her weight as if to say, 'What're you gonna do about it?'

The captain looked at her feet and she followed his gaze.

As an apology, her brother had bought her the newest version of Prince Tennis Footwear, and freaking awesome pink shoelaces to go with them. Nothing short of Armageddon could make her part from her babies.

"Prince." So the captain had noticed her love of the brand.

"Only the best, Captain." His eyes shot back to her.

"Uchiha Sasuke, only my _team_ can call me captain." Was this his way of seeing if she would show up tomorrow?

Sakura played into it.

Smiling, she responded in an innocent tone.

"Well then, until tomorrow Captain."

He wore an expression that stated he understood she was going out for the team.

Good.

Sakura broke eye contact and decided that she really needed to pack up and leave.

Like, now.

Squatting down, she started to place her racquet in her bag, fully aware that the figure above her was blatantly looking at her four identical racquets.

"What're your stats Haruno." What was with these people and asking question?

Apparently it was forbidden.

She looked up at the Uchiha again, only to see that he was wearing a smirk. Did he think that she was just some girl that couldn't play, but carried around four racquets to fool everyone and get guys? Um, she was _so_ not that girl.

To brag, or not to brag.

Duh, lay it out all on the table to be ogled at.

"Junior in High School, singles player, and 2 back to back State Championships."

His smirk grew, then the blond spoke.

"Hey teme! She's you! Except with, like, pink hair and one less title."

She looked from the blond to her future captain.

"So you got three. Nice."

He only responded with a small "Hn."

Seeing as this meeting was coming to an end, she reached down and grabbed her bag. She walked past the captain, not bothering to look at him, and walked up to the others still standing by the gate.

She spoke formal. "I apologize for delaying your rally."

The blond plastered a big lopsided grin on his face and scratched behind his head.

"Ah, don't worry about it Haruno! My name's Naruto and this is Neji. We're the strongest varsity regulars on this year's team. Well, minus the captain of course."

She didn't even look at the smirk that she could feel coming from that Sasuke character.

"Interesting. Nice to meet you two."  
Surprising her, Neji looked at her and spoke.

"Please, continue serving."

Sakura knew exactly what he was doing. He was sizing her up, seeing if she was 'all that' she had said she was. Well, if he wanted to play the 'nice, but actually a conniving asshole' role, then Sakura wouldn't let him do it for nothing.

She smirked, "Of course."

Sakura placed her back on the ground again, gently, and quickly took out her racquet and a trio of balls.

"You can serve on the court beside us as we rally."

Sakura nodded and went back to the exact same court she was on moments before.

Sakura waited until the three boys placed their bags on the ground and pulled out their racquets of choice. She was disgusted by the fact that they all used Wilsons.

_Blasphemy_.

She made a small face. Then, they boys were on the court and started to rally up two against one. Not surprising, the Uchiha was playing the single position.

As they continued, Sakura got in her mindset and continued exactly where she had left off. Luckily, she was already warmed up and could pass on the ridiculously slow warm up serves.

Sakura decided on a spin serve. She started her routine, bouncing the ball three times, and then unloaded her newly found stress to her serve.

It went in. Sakura smirked.

She was totally aware that the trio beside her was devoid of any movement and sound.

They were watching her.

She looked at the three silent young men before her.

Naruto started grinning. "Wow! You really do know how to play after all!"

She shot him a look. "I wouldn't lie about my titles. Go look it up for further proof."

Huffing, she turned around to serve again, still noting that they were watching.

Fine, if they wanted to watch, she might as well give them something to chew on.

Three bounces later, she arched her back and threw herself into another serve, even lifting herself off the ground a little bit. Kick Serve.

The ball slammed into it's respected square with such a force that her hand was tingling.

She heard Naruto again. "Hot damn…"

Yep, it was definitely time to leave on that very, _very_ high note. She shot a look at the Neji guy to make him aware that she knew what he was doing the whole time and that she had proved herself, and started to walk to her bag.

"Haruno." She turned back to see Uchiha staring at her. Surprisingly, Neji spoke for him after getting a nod from the stoic captain.

"Challenge matches for varsity start tomorrow. Everyone is in the bracket, just like a tournament. No consolation. If you get defeated before the final eight, you're out of the running for varsity. Come prepared."

Sakura smirked. She looked back at the obvious person with authority, Uchiha.

"Of course, Captain." And with that, she walked off the courts and didn't look back once.

The boys watched her retreating form disappear into the foliage surrounding the path.

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**You like? Review and I'll continue. I need to know if you guys like it enough to continue or just forget about it. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Holy wow! I got 24 reviews for one chapter! I am definitely continuing this little piece. I just wanted to say THANK YOU. I hope you enjoy!**

*****If you like strong Sakura stories, then please check out Escape:My other work in progress that I really should be working on. Haha. Oh well, I'm in love with my sport right now. **

************And to all you reviewers that continually say Wilson is better….**

**BLASPHEMY! **

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Tennis is a whole spectrum of things, but one thing it's not is a contact sport. You know, like those rough and tough burly linemen in football that kill each other for a living?

Yeah, she wasn't into the whole running into someone for the heck of it.

So, you can imagine the surprise Sakura had when she stepped foot into her new school for the first time. It was humongous compared to her old, quaint school.

'They must be rolling in the dough', though Sakura, because everything looked spotless. Even the garbage cans, and it's common knowledge that school trash receptacles is in the top ten of 'The World's Deadliest Places.'

Keeping an eye out for the trio she met last night, she winced as nearly everyone in a three foot radius ended up bumping into her. It was almost as if they were doing this on purpose.

Really, that person three hits ago could have totally dodged her.

Getting her shoulder slammed for the umpteenth time, she vaguely wondered if this is what living your life as a tennis ball felt like. Let's just say she was not amused.

Walking down the third hallway she found, she suddenly was relieved to see a door on the right with 'OFFICE' plastered above it.

To Sakura, it clearly read Heaven.

Rushing into the opening before she could contract any more bruises(She was going to have to explain to Kenji when she got home that no, she _didn't_ get beat up her first day for her lunch money.) she suddenly found herself face to face with someone remotely familiar.

"Haruno."

"Hyuga." She answered with just the same amount of concern and attentiveness that the boy had dished to her.

"Come to get your schedule."

She didn't even bother to answer, because apparently it wasn't a question anyway. Out of respect, and admittedly fear because she didn't know the position and authority he held on the team yet, she nodded before making her way towards the huge wall of desk that three secretary sat behind. It reminded her of a bank, with all the little bank tellers lined up in a row. Her old school had only one secretary that doubled as the principal's assistant.

Walking up to the only open woman, she introduced herself. Finally, after proving to the lady that she was indeed Haruno Sakura, she obtained her schedule and admissions packet she had to return the next day. Turning to leave, she asked the woman how many people went to school here.

Said woman looked up from the stack of paper work she was sifting through. "Oh, we have about three hundred people in each grade. All in all, around eleven hundred Miss Haruno."

Holy Fricken Cow. Yes, caps were necessary.

In her old school, they were lucky to get six hundred in the whole high school.

And let's face it.

Out of eleven hundred, only eight make it to Varsity for the tennis team.

Suddenly, things seemed to get a lot more..tense.

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It wasn't until fourth out of the eight periods that someone even bothered to talk to her. Actually, it was the other way around. Everyone was forced to stand up at their desks, introduce themselves and tell their grade. Now, even though she was good at tennis…Okay, _awesome_ at tennis… that was only the half of it. In fact, Sakura was really smart.

Like genius smart if she did say so herself.

That's why when she found out that she was going to a huge school, she was not about to let all of these Advance Placement courses slip through her fingers. So you can imagine the surprise when she introduced herself in a senior Advanced Calculus class as a junior. Everyone in the room craned their necks to gape at her. She could only feel the love. Sitting down quickly, she decided that it was best to lay low in this class. In fact, she had decided to lay low the whole first day. It wasn't that she was scared or nervous; well she was, but nervous for an entirely different reason.

Tryouts.

Yep, making friends would definitely come tomorrow….NOT today.

Every spare moment was spent in deep concentration on form and strategies. Even if she couldn't beat these people physically, she was going to be able and ready to do it mentally. Maybe that would explain the reason she had no idea that as the boy seated directly beside her stood up, he would announce himself as 'Sasuke Uchiha, Junior.'

Just sayin'.

She snapped up her head at him as the teacher chided to the seniors that they were going to have to step it up.

He didn't even look at her.

No even an eye cut.

(Ignoration: the process of being ignored. Ex. Sakura could not believe Sasuke had the audacity to put her through ignoration.)

She scowled at him only to have it seemingly be ignored. So this was the start of a long and beautiful friendship it seemed. Sakura looked back to her math notebook in front of her.

Fine.

If that's how he wanted to be, then so be it.

Hmph.

When the bell rang fifteen minutes later, she grabbed her things only to be taken by the wrist. She looked up at six foot frame that had just _touched_ her. Can we say falcon punch?

"Four, don't be late."

She looked at Uchiha, yanked her wrist away, and continued on her way.

What? She was still grumpy that he didn't even acknowledge her!

Okay, maybe it wasn't the best of choices.

Looking back, that probably was the worst choice she could have made, considering he was her captain and all.

_Fudge_.

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At three thirty, Sakura stood in front of the mirror in the tennis court bathrooms. She didn't consider herself girly girl in the least, even though she did love to wear summer dresses.

Okay, maybe she dressed girly. But that was her limit.

As for the nasal 'Eh Meh Gawd' voice, obsession over if gel or acrylic nails were better, and not getting sweaty…..well, she didn't see eye to eye with those zombies.

She wondered what people thought of her if they judged her based solely on her appearance. In tennis, she dressed in her beloved Prince outfits. It would be safe to assume that she was a snob that only lobbed it over the net to serve.

Negative on that comment on her though, for serious.

But, even she could admit that she looked cute. In her slender and petite 5'6 frame, she knew these dresses looked good on her. But was this a good first impression to give to her new teammates? She wanted to be known for what she was, a power player.

_Not_ some doll.

She looked at herself again. The stripes that ran down the length of the green dress only emphasized a leaner look, and the skirt portion was pleated with a slit on the right side.

Oh, she was so going to get underestimated in this dress. She could just feel the underestimation.

Hey, hold the phone.

If she went out there and acted like a clueless chit that held a racquet, she could possibly have the element of surprise going for her.

The possibilities were endless.

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At 4:02, she stepped onto the courts. Immediately, she caught everyone's attention, and she knew exactly why.

She looked at the Naruto boy who was running towards her.  
"Naruto, where's all the girls?"

He looked around and then faced her again.

"Haruno, the girls don't play tennis. You're like, the first one I've heard of around here."

Sakura couldn't believe her ears. Naruto kept going.

"You see, there is no separate 'boy-girl' teams around here. That means that if you are number four on varsity and a girl, you would play number four on the other team no matter the gender. I guess the girls got tired of losing."

She shot a death glare in his direction.

"No! I didn't mean…You know you're a beast!"

Sakura could admit she felt a _little_ better after that comment.

So, if this is how it was, she would make due.

Just then, her favorite person in the whole world spoke.

"It seems that all who are going to take place in this year's tryout have arrived. There are eight courts in total, and about sixty four of you here. We are going to have about eight people per court and effectively eight mini tournaments. The winners of those will then play against each other to determine the top eight ranks inside varsity. Understand?"

One: Sakura was completely dumbfounded on Sasuke's ability to speak.

Two: Sakura knew that she would have to win her bracket completely to even get a chance at varsity.

Three: Sakura _really_ didn't want to be in the same bracket as Sasuke, Neji, or Naruto.

Sasuke went around each court and tacked a piece of paper to the fence: The bracket. She saw other people wondering from fence to fence finding their name and followed suit.

On court number three, she found her neatly scrawled name. Thankfully, neither of her trio was in her tournament. She looked around her saw the people that were in it with her. She saw mostly young boys, and only a few older ones. She knew that those were going to be her biggest problem. One of them caught her looking at him and decided to make his way on over.

"So, you're Sakura huh."

He was about average height and had brown hair. He was cute, but had that arrogant swagger thing going on. She could already tell someone had an egotistical complex disorder going for him.

"Yeah, and you?"

"Kyo. I'm the guy you're up against. It looks like we go first."

She looked back at the sheet finding his words correct.

"I see, do you want to get started?"

"Sure princess."

Now, as she stated earlier, for some reason her appearance just seems to give off that child innocence feel. She decided to let the comment go and just let him think of her a weak little girl. She walked up to the bench beside her designated court and started to take out her racket. Looking up, she saw Captain making his way towards her.

"Here." She took the can of balls wordlessly as they met each other's eyes.

"Thanks," was all she said before heading to her side of the net. She started to rally with Kyo. After about three minutes, she could tell that he had an amazing forward hand, but only mediocre back hand. And for some reason he loved to use the backhand slice to make it drop just over the net. This annoyed her, but she could live. Sakura was just barely hitting the balls back, not showing off or giving him any sort of idea how she played. She could see his smirk start to form.

He called out from across the net.  
"Hey princess, you ready to serve? I promise I'll go easy on you. I won't hit you."

Sakura just smiled sweetly and started her practice serves. As usual, they were obnoxiously slow.

As Kyo served them back, she couldn't help but notice that he was serving way too fast for warm ups.

She realized after a couple of seconds that he was trying to show off.

Well, he'll find out what he is up against soon enough.

Sasuke, who was walking up and down the courts, yelled at them.

"Court three, get started."

Sakura turned and nodded. Walking up to the net, Kyo was already waiting.

"I must say that you're cute Princess." Again, she smiled sweetly. After he spun, Sakura was overjoyed when he lost and she got to serve first.

Walking back up to the base line, Sakura noticed that everyone had their eyes on her court.

She really was the center of attention these days.

Announcing the start of the match, she bounced her ball three times and lofted it in the air.

It was safe to assume that when she aced the clueless boy, he had no idea what hit him.

Smirking, she walked over the left side of the court and went at it again. This time, if the other boys weren't watching before, they were watching now.

"15-0"

This time, Kyo managed to return it. Sakura moved her feet with small shuffles towards the ball, letting the racquet have full control as it swung in a beautiful forward hand. The satisfying 'tok' was heard as it slammed deep into the boy's backhand side. Barely managing to get his racquet on it, the ball sunk right into the net.

Sakura was already waiting.

"30-0"

This time, she decided to get it over with early. Slamming a spin serve onto his backhand side, he was too close and tried to bring it up, overcorrecting and effectively not getting it back into the court.

"40-0"

Now the boy thought he had her figured out. He quickly made two large steps to his left so when she would serve him a backhand, it was now his forward hand. Sakura just inwardly laughed. Now all she had to do was serve it hard and flat down the T zone and he would never make it back to the middle of the court in time. As Sakura slammed a ball with no spin at all down the middle of the court, Kyo couldn't help to curse under his breath as he tried in vain to run back. He never even touched the ball.

As she walked over to the other side of the net she threw him the ball.

"Better luck next time sweety."

He offered her a glare in return.

Waiting for him to make his way to his respective side, Sakura looked around. Everyone was gaping at her with the exemption of one. Sasuke Uchiha stood right outside her fence smirking at her.

Nodding in his direction to show that she saw him, she couldn't help but to smirk back at him.

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Sakura was sitting outside the courts gloating while taking a huge swig of water. After she had pummeled Kyo into the ground, all that was left was younger boys. She was ecstatic when she made the top eight. Sure, she had the easiest bracket in the world, but she didn't expect to just be number eight. She was going for top three, and she was dead set on making it. Looking down at her watch, she scowled that it was already 6:30.

This was going to take all blasted night.

"Haruno." Sakura looked up. When did he get there?

"Yes Captain?"

"We are stopping the matches because it's getting late. Be sure to go by room 332 tomorrow and get fitted for your Varsity uniform."

Sakura couldn't help but smile at his words.

"Tomorrow it won't be so easy." She looked at him.

"I know that."

He nodded to her and turned to leave. Stopping momentarily, he threw a comment over his shoulder.

"You didn't even use the kick serve today."

Sakura looked at him curiously. Was he saying that she would need it tomorrow?

Since she didn't know if he was throwing an insult at her or not, she decided that she would make her goal known.

"When I face off against you Uchiha, you'll see plenty of it."

Sasuke scoffed and continued to walk.

Figures.

_JerkFACE_.

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Today was the day that Sakura Haruno was to make friends. Sitting in her first period Physics class, she made a point to actually look up and see who was around her. Amazingly, she saw Uchiha up in front along with Neji.

She groaned.

Looking to her right, she saw a girl with blonde hair in a high pony tail.

Seeing as she had nothing to lose, Sakura went for it.

"Hi, I'm Sakura."

Swell, now you totally don't seem like a loser with no friends.

The girl looked at her before giving a small smile.

"Yo, I'm Ino."

Suddenly she looked taken by surprise.

"Oh my gah, you're that girl that tried out for tennis and made it to varsity!"

Sakura just nodded her head.

"You're, like, my hero!"

She gave a small laugh and shook her head.

"I just like to play tennis."

Ino turned to face her completely. "Do you understand that the captain cannot stand females on his team?"

Sakura was dumbfounded.

"Huh?"

"It was rumored that he would give them the hardest tryouts or something so they could never make it."

Sakura cocked her head to the side. He didn't do that for her, in fact, her tryouts were easy.

"You must be really,_really_ good!" Ino clasped her hands together.

"Nah, I'm just in love with the game."

Ino leaned in close enough to make Sakura edge back.

"We, me and you of course, are going to be best of friends. I can already tell. I'm the captain of the volleyball team."

"That's cool, so you love sports too."

"Me and a couple of the girls are going to eat tonight around seven. Wanna come?"

Sakura gave Ino a toothy grin to confirm.

Friends?

Check.

Sakura faced up front just as the teacher walked in. Noticing movement from the right, she gave it a quick glance.

Neji Hyuga had totally been eavesdropping.

In fact, he was still looking at her. They made eye contact before he turned around as the teacher started talking.

Have we gone over the fact that boys in this school are, like, impossible to understand?

Yeah, thought so.

A small light turned on inside her head as she realized today was the day she would prove her worth on the tennis team.

She couldn't help but to giggle.

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PRINCE PWNS ALL.


	3. Chapter 3

**This was supposed to come out last night, but my power was knocked out. I want to dedicate this chapter to **_**Miss Hazel**_** for being so patient with me. I apologize. Now, on with the tennis!**

Could this not be just a wee bit easier? Really…Fifteen laps before the challenge matches even started?

It wasn't like she was going to need this energy she was wasting later on when she was fighting for her life on the court.

Nooo, of course not.

Sakura furrowed her brows while she turned another corner, willing herself not to sound like a weezer as she continued on with this torture. She had never been much of a runner. It was odd, she hardly ever lost a match because of fatigue. But if you made her run, she would be out of it before she even got started. Her old coach used to say because her passion was so great for tennis, even fatigue couldn't overcome her mentally while playing.

She huffed as she turned another corner.

Umm..This was one big pile of _SUCK_.

Apparently, because the Uchiha was the captain or his laziness was dominant at the moment, he didn't feel the need to run with them. She scowled at his highness across the court at his perch by the gates.

Oh, how she loathed him.

Sakura felt her breathing start to become even more labored. Trying to find something to keep her mind off the inevitable cramp coming up in between her ribs, she focused on strategies. What if she was put up against Uchiha? She knew absolutely _nada_ about his techniques. She felt a little disgruntled all of the sudden.

In fact, not knowing the Captain's game worried her greatly. She had never seen him play, only rally for like 2.45 seconds whenever she was showing off her serves two nights ago.

Should she be worried that she has no idea if he is even right or left handed?

Maybe.

Scratch that.

Psh. As if.

Sakura doesn't _do_ apprehension of unknown beast-like males that can crush opponents by just looking at them on the court.

Deciding that panicking was not the best option,(Really, at the state championships she went up against girls she had never laid eyes upon before.) she forced her body on and made another lap.

Was it just her, or was continually turning left as you ran around courts boring as freaking HEL—

"Everyone gather around." Though his voice never rose one ounce in pitch, it carried effortlessly across the courts. She was only on lap eleven.

Well, it seemed captain got tired of waiting.

Sakura looked to her left and found Captain in the middle of the courts tapping his foot patiently. Altering her running course, she gracefully swerved and continued her jog until she landed right beside him. Trying hard to control her breathing, she looked at him.

She seriously hoped she was up against someone…lame.

**Rewind**. She was _not_ weak.

Okay, so not a lame opponent; But not God-like strategies with the speed and agility of a cheetah either.

"Everyone that is not in the top eight can go sit in the bleachers to watch. This will be your only off day, so enjoy it. As for the rest of you men.."

Um, could we get a time out?

Did she just hear correctly what spewed from his mouth?

She raised a delicate brow in his direction for it only to be promptly ignored.

No matter, her lucky Prince lavender two-piece that she was wearing _definitely_ shouted 'fierce female' last time she checked.

His annoying voice continued.

"We are going to be having some fun. The paper that tells who you are up against is on court one. Good luck."

Sakura, not facing the fact that her captain was smirking at her, automatically turned on her heel and headed towards court one.

This was it.

She couldn't even deny the anxiety that was building up in her stomach as she neared the piece of paper crudely clipped on the chain-linked fence.

Waiting for the crowd of boys already there to disperse, she finally made it up to the deceivingly innocent parchment.

She felt her jaw drop in shock.

1) Naruto U. 

Sasuke U.

2) Neji H. 

Sakura H.

3) Shikamaru N.

Siwon K.

4) Konha L. 

Shino A. 

So she didn't get it easy yesterday after all. Even if she did beat Neji, she was going up against Sasuke right after. Judging from Naruto's avid complaining at the moment, he seemed to know that he was fixing to lose. She looked at the bracket again.

There was no way in heck that she was losing in the first round. Her goal was now moved to from being in top three to remaining in top four. Sakura shivered and turned to see someone right behind her.

"You do know that I took it as a silent challenge when you slammed the kick serve the other night to show off Haruno. How…amusing this is that I get to face off against you."

Neji Hyuga stood before her in all his glory.

Sakura angled her head to the side as she looked him straight in the eyes.

"Hyuga, it seemed to me as if you were the one to doubt my abilities in the first place. I only showed you what ignorant males seem to forget: Women do it better."

Sakura didn't wait for a reply; he was her opponent after all.

Walking back to the bleachers to get her bag, she observed that Naruto and Uchiha were on court one already rallying. That meant Hyuga and herself was to occupy court two.

Joy.

Everyone that could _possibly_ intimidate (but not really) her was within a twenty yard radius of each other. But at least she could sneak glances at her 'opponent to be' every once and a while. Gingerly walking over to her bench beside her court, she already found her canned trio of balls waiting for her, opened. Shoving two of the yellow spheres in her bloomers, yes that's what really short sliding shorts are called in her ah-mazing sport, she threw the last ball at her opponent in passing. While walking to the base line, Sakura sneaked glances at the rest of the boys lined up to play. No one seemed to have started yet, and it also seemed no one was warming up with their true potential. These were going to be harder opponents than she had ever played before.

Not only physically because she was female, but she knew that these boys played just as much of a mental game as a physical game.

Sometimes Sakura called tennis 'Chess for Jocks.' It wasn't just about just trying to get the ball back when you were at this level. Oh no, these boys were on the offensive; lining up moves in advance. They could hit a ball at you only to move right where you are going to hit it back as if they were psychic. For example, if Sakura could hit it into one of the corners, it was almost a given that Neji was going to hit it cross court back at her. If she could hit three consecutive corners to where he gets lazy and stops going back to the middle only to run back to the same spot, all she would have to do is smack on good shot to the other side and he could never make it in time. There is only one huge problem with that scenario. Players at this level nearly all knew these tricks too. So everyone knew ways to counteract these set traps and let them back fire on the original initiator.

And we can't forget that Neji was one of the top dogs already. Sakura silently wondered if her opponent would match her skills at strategy.

Watching said boy walk to the opposite side of the court, she grabbed a ball from her shorts, throwing her racket back simultaneously and started the first rally.

Five minutes later, they were warmed up on long strokes and started the serves. Sakura noticed that if she didn't know any better, she would have thought Neji to be only a mediocre player. In warm ups, he only seemed to work on form and concentrate just on getting the ball back over the net. She could see how that could make some pig headed male like Kyo think he had the Hyuga in the bag, only to be rudely awakened. In essence, he was putting on the same front she did with Kyo, though _she_ wasn't dumb enough to fall into that trap. If she was doing this correctly, which she indeed was, then she would come to conclude that he was thinking the exact same thing about her. She wasn't doing anything flashy at all at the moment. In fact, she hit a couple in the net for good measure. They both knew this match would be a challenge. Sakura felt a little excitement flutter in her body; a challenging match for sure.

"Are you ready Haruno?"

Neji didn't wait for her answer as he started walking towards the net for the spin off. Sakura made her way towards him.

"M or W."

Neji smirked and decided " W."

Sakura spun her racquet and was let down when she glanced only to see the Hyuga won.

"See Haruno, W is for winner."

Sakura regarded him lightly. He really would be quite handsome if he wasn't such a prideful jackass.

"No Neji, W is for wooden stick. You know, like the one shoved up your ass?"

His smirk immediately changed to a menacing growl-like glare as he shifted in her direction.

Like he would hit a girl….

Maybe she went too far that time.

_Woopsie_.

Giving the irate teen a quick smile, she went back to her respective side only to await his serve.

Neji took his time, apparently trying to get his mindset on track. Finally it was time to start.

"0-0"

Sakura bent her knees slightly and brought her racquet up into ready position at her chest. She honestly had no idea what to expect. With a serve that was as much graceful as it was deadly, she watched as the ball lofted into the air and only to get slammed by his racquet.

Sakura barely returned it.

He definitely had pure brute strength on his side. Hitting the ball down the line instead of cross court to where he was standing, Sakura watched him easily make it and slam the ball back. Now she knew that wherever she hit the ball, he would make it. Making a gamble she left the base line as she swatted the ball cross court and watched him run again. Running her way to the net, she knew that he had nowhere to hit it back except exactly where she was headed. She had just made it to the net when he slammed it into her direction; Sakura wasted time in making the perfect volley to the complete opposite side of the court. The sheer force of her swing and her closeness to his side of the court ensured that he had no time read into her swing to decide where she was going to hit it, or at what rate. She had just won the first point.

Sakura smirked at him before making her way back to the base line once again. Her adrenaline was pumping like crazy through her veins.

It was official: Sakura had no chance at beating him with physical anything. Anything she hit at him he would most likely return with double the velocity. On top of that, he was fast. She would have to simultaneously run him every chance she got to wear him out while thinking ahead. This only left strategy, and she would have to keep him on his toes. Even then, she didn't know how long she could outwit him.

_Why didn't they just have a girl's team? This was ridiculous._

Neji went and prepared his serve.

"0-15."

The ball came so fast she had no idea how her racquet found it on time. It was obviously pure instinct that made her return it. Surprising her, he hit a short ball right back. Forcing her to run to the net to where the ball just landed, she barely got it back over. Trying to run back, she knew it was in vain when she felt the ball wiz by her head and land deep in the back of the court, perfectly nestled inside the line.

Fudge.

This was getting sticky.

Looking up, she glared at her opponent.

"You better watch out Haruno, you never know when a stray ball will take you head off."

Sakura scoffed.

"Stray ball my butt, you jerk."

She walked back to await the serve she knew would be flying at her any moment.

An hour and fifteen minutes later, it was obvious they were at a stale mate. The rules were easy. The first one to win would have to beat their opponent by being the first to win eight games, and by two. That means you can't win eight games to seven. To ensure fairness, you would have to win nine games to seven. Currently, Neji was down by one game, that meant Sakura would have to win this next one, which was her serve, to win the match. The only problem was that the game count was currently 13-14. Everyone else was finished, and Sasuke was patiently waiting to see who he would have to play next.

All eyes were glued onto court number two.

Sakura took a deep breath as she prepared to serve. Neji had almost beat her too many times for comfort; But not this time. She was going to win her match point even if it killed her.

"0-0"

Sakura served her spin serve and watched it as it was gracefully returned. Running him to the other side of the court, Sakura waited for it to bounce back but it never did. She looked up. Apparently she had finally tired him out to some extent. Watching him huff in annoyance of not being able to get to the ball, she decided on her course of action. Throwing the ball into the air for another serve, Neji never expected it when she barely tapped it only for it to just squeeze by and make it bounce over the net. Seeing what she was doing, he ran from where he was to try and make it, but was well behind the base line. He watched it double bounce when he was still three feet away.

Sakura only walked to the other side to get ready to serve again.

"You play cheap."

If she heard, she made no comment. The object of the game was to win, and no matter how dirty, as long as she called good shots and was fair, everything was taken into account.

"30-0"

She saw Neji move up as he anticipated she would pull that stunt again. He really was losing it, she would never pull the same trick twice in a row.

Lofting the ball and letting her racquet come down hard upon the object, Sakura was already smirking as she sent it deep. Much like Kyo, Neji was too close to hit the ball correctly. Stepping out of the way, he managed to catch the ball with his racquet. Sakura was running to where the ball was going to hit and waited patiently as it hit the ground.

It landed only about five inches outside of the single line, effectively making it-

"Out."

Neji cursed from across the court.

Sakura realized what this meant.

She was just one point away from winning.

_**Match-Point.**_

Fixing to serve, Sakura announced just that. Bouncing the ball three times, she realized that everyone around them had stopped what they were doing. Even the kids on the bleachers were leaning in, as if to get closer to the action. Sakura stopped bouncing the ball. She had used every card up her sleeve this match except one. Seeing as Neji was finally fatigued, there was no other time to use it except now.

She started her serve once again, letting the ball drop from her hand three times before letting it loft from her fingers.

Just as it left the pads of her digits, she customarily arched her back as anyone would as they would perform a kick serve, and sent the ball flying. Neji growled as the ball flew past him.

Sakura had just aced Hyuga Neji to win the game.

She could feel everyone gaping at her.

It wasn't entirely a bad feeling either.

Walking towards the net, she held out her hand. It took some time for Neji to give in, but he grasped her's briefly before muttering "Good match," and walked towards the bench. Sakura slowly walked to her side before no so gracefully falling onto her bench and closing her eyes. She sat there for a couple of minutes before she heard footsteps in her direction. Peeking from her eyes, she saw none other than Captain.

"I was wondering when we were going to see that serve, but you saved until the very end."

Sakura made no reply, she was simply too tired. So, she grunted instead.

"You're match with me will prove to be more challenging."

She lowered her eyebrows, didn't she know that already?

"I'll only say this once Haruno, I've watched you enough to know that to underestimate your opponent would be a grave mistake. I look forward to tomorrow."

Just like that, he walked away. Sakura looked after him until he hit the gates only to see Naruto turn towards her.

Just like that, he was in front of her.

"Wow Sakura! I've never seen Neji be beaten so ruthlessly by a _girl_!"

She only giggled at his antics. But her amusement was short lived when she realized what tomorrow would bring.

She already felt the nerves in her stomach start to build in anticipation for the upcoming match.

**VERY IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!**

**For the next month, I will be taking Kinesiology for my pre-med program in a Summer Session. I will try to write, but my grade unfortunately must come first. I will apologize in advance for the delay in updating. Please don't hate me! **

**Question! **

**Have any of you taken this course before or know anyone who has? If so, what can I expect?**


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